I Think This Could've Been Sorted Behind Closed Doors – Gautam Gambhir On “Internal Battle” Between Virat Kohli And The BCCI

Former Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir believes that the “internal battle” between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Virat Kohli could have been sorted behind closed doors.

Virat Kohli had stepped down as India’s T20I captain following the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and he was sacked as One Day International captain as the BCCI wanted to have just one white-ball captain, so the selection committee appointed Rohit Sharma as the new white-ball skipper of the team. Also, Virat Kohli had stepped down from Test captaincy following the Test series defeat in South Africa.

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Meanwhile, there were discrepancies in the statements given by the BCCI officials and Kohli on the white-ball captaincy change, which led to a major controversy in Indian cricket.

Speaking on Times Now, Gambhir said that unnecessary controversy was created between the board and Kohli. He added that removing Kohli from the ODI captaincy was the right decision taken by the selection committee and he opined that Virat Kohli should have continued as Test captain.

“I think this could’ve been sorted behind closed doors as well. It was an internal battle. It was a great TRP for a lot of new channels but that’s fine. If you go to the depth of it, the matter can easily be solved. It’s not that big of an issue,” said Gambhir while speaking on Times Now.

“Honestly, I don’t see any controversy which was created. Talking about captaincy, I think Virat should have continued as red-ball captain. But for white-ball captaincy, once he decided to let go of T20I captaincy, he had to let go of ODI captaincy as well. The BCCI and the selectors were right from the white-ball point of view. But it was Virat’s personal decision to step down from Test captaincy, which he should have continued,” he further added.

You don’t need to be a captain to be a leader – Virat Kohli

Former Indian captain Kohli on Monday said that a player doesn’t need to be a captain of the team to be a leader. He also talked about his approach as a senior player after the end of his leadership tenure.

“Everything has a tenure and time period. You obviously have to be aware of that. People might say ‘what this guy has done’ but you know when you think of moving forward and achieving more, you feel like you have done your job.

“Now as a batsman maybe you have more things to contribute to the team. You can make the team win more. So take pride in that. You don’t need to be a captain to be a leader. As simple as that,” Kohli said on Digit’s ‘Firseside Chat with VK’.

Also Read: Mithali Raj Rises To Second, Smriti Mandhana Retains Sixth Spot In The Latest ICC Women’s ODI Players’ Rankings

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